Archive for November, 2011

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 5 – Swarovski Crystal Holiday Lights

Friday, November 18th, 2011
crystal holiday light charms

Swarovski crystal holiday lights

Hi bloglandia! Here is another sparkly design, courtesy of the Create Your Style with Swarovski Elements design team: holiday light charms! You need just four ingredients to make them:

9x6mm crystal teardrop beads

4mm rhinestone wheel beads

5mm round crystal beads

Head pins 

Simply stack the crystals on head pins and complete each charm with a simple loop or wrapped loop. The crystal lights can be used individually or en masse to create all sorts of jewelry:

string of lights earrings

Dangly Christmas light earrings are so festive!

crystal light earrings

Holiday light earrings are also cute with just one light bulb.

lights and trees holiday necklace

Or, instead of head pins, string the light pattern on a strand of beading cable for a necklace like this.

For easy charm bracelets, just add some lights to a toggle bracelet:

toggle bracelet

Chain bracelet with toggle clasp already attached.

Aren’t they de-light-ful? (Sorry, that’s the cold medicine talking!) Happy Friday! ~ Cindy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 4 – Beaded Snowflakes

Thursday, November 17th, 2011
beaded snowflakes

Making beaded snowflakes is a fun project for anyone old enough to not put beads in their mouth!

Day 4 is an ultra-simple, instant gratification project: beaded snowflakes. Simply take a wire snowflake form and add beads. This is an ideal project for using up leftover beads, especially sparkly glass beads!

snowflake wire formsThere are several options for keeping the beads in place:

  1. Use crimp beads. (Use a crimp with loop at the top to make it easy to hang).
  2. Glue the last bead in place.
  3. Use round-nose pliers to loop the end of the wire.
  4. french wire keeper on wireOr – the easiest and best in my opinion – use a French wire keeper. French wire keepers are little rubber stoppers that keep earrings in place – or beads on snowflake forms. French wire keepers also make great pin backs, or clutches/nuts for post earrings. A very versatile little jewelry finding indeed!
window-beaded-snowflakes

Dress up the view with sparkly snowflakes!

Winter – and the cold & flu season – is upon us. I didn’t post day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas jewelry designs yesterday because I never made it out of bed. Silly head cold. So let that be a lesson to you all – it is never to early to start your holiday projects because you never know what interruptions you might face!

Happy beading! ~ Cindy

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 3 – Lampwork Glass Bead Zipper Pulls

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
candy-glass-zipper-pulls

Candy bead zipper pulls make a great gift for someone sweet!

Quick, cute and affordable gift idea: zipper pulls! Zipper pulls are actually quite functional when you’re wearing gloves or mittens – why not make them pretty, too? Here are the three things you must do to make beady coat decorations strong enough to withstand a blustery winter.

split ring pliers

That hooked jaw will save your manicure.

  1. Use beads that are large enough to grasp when you’re gloved up. If the bead holes are large, like on many of the holiday lampwork glass beads I used, add small beads on both ends. (Small Czech glass flower beads make convincing cellophane wrappers on silver-foil glass bead candy.)
  2. String beads on a headpin and make a wrapped loop. A basic loop won’t cut it here.
  3. Use split rings instead of  jump rings to attach your baubles to a swivel clip or clasp.
split ring pliers

Pliers make this so much easier!

You’ve heard the song “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy”? Well, save your nails – use split ring pliers! Just insert the hooked jaw into the split ring and squeeze. Now slide both the swivel clip and beaded pin onto the ring.

peppermint candy zipper

Mint candy freshens up any outfit.

Well done. You’ve just learned how to make great gifts for under $1 each! ~ Cindy

Twelve Days of Christmas Jewelry Designs: 2 – Bottle Cap Baubles

Monday, November 14th, 2011

What *can’t* you make with a bottle cap? That seems to be what our design team wanted to find out.  Check out all of the fun and fabulous bottle cap jewelry, bottle cap home decor and bottle cap holiday accessories you can make! *

santa-bottle-cap-charm

Santa Claus charm bracelet - or wine bottle adornment! Or both!

how-to-make-bottle-cap-jewelry

Supplies for bottle cap necklaces.

Our bottle cap jewelry-making kit contains bottle caps, ball chain and clasps, jump rings, earring findings, the hole punch pliers, and  clear epoxy dots to cover the images. The only other thing you need is white craft glue, scissors or  a 1″ hole punch (highly recommended!), and paper or pictures to insert in the caps. (Many of these examples use images from Simply Swank’s Christmas collage sheet.) Plus embellishments of course. Lots and lots of embellishments!

Upgrade to rhinestone chain for loads of holiday sparkle.

bottle cap napkin rings

Add chain or ribbon to turn monogram bottle cap charms into napkin rings or place cards.

These thin silk ribbons are so pretty. They are even long enough to use as gift wrap – which then becomes a pendant necklace!

Silk cords - classy, reusable gift wrap?

Or, fill bottle caps with your favorite illustrations for lovely gifts.

Normally we advise people to use images that are in the public domain. However, when Sondra bought art from Corid on Etsy, Cori included several itty bitty images with the order. These images were too cute to go to waste, so Sondra them in some of her bottle cap creations. (The general rule is that if you purchase the artwork, it is yours to do what you wish with it for personal use – EXCEPT reproduce. So if you have an original, great, but don’t copy an artist’s work.)  Here’s another Corid image:

A charm bracelet can also be used to personalize a wine glass, or decorate a wine bottle. What a great double-duty hostess gift!

So there you have it! Bottle caps made into necklaces, charm bracelets, gift adornments, napkin rings, place settings, wine bottle markers and more!

One more idea: use family photos or kids artwork to make Christmas tree ornaments, for your own tree or as teacher gifts! Enough for today – stay tuned for day 3 of the DIY Christmas jewelry countdown tomorrow! ~ Cindy

* Recycling or upcycling is always a good thing. However, it is much, much easier to use new bottle caps for these designs since they don’t have rubber liners. Rubber liners keep your drinks sealed, but they get in the way of sealing an image in place.